Keane desperate to face Clarets

Chris Boden

Michael Keane is “desperate” to feature against his former club Burnley tomorrow.

Keane, who became the Clarets’ record sale when joining Everton in the summer for a fee of £25m, rising to £30m, has missed the Toffees’ last two games with a gashed foot which required six stitches.

He has trained this week, and Ronald Koeman will make a late decision on the former Manchester United man.

Keane said: “It’s a game I am desperate to play in. I have a lot of friends at Burnley and enjoyed a lot of great times.

“It was one I was looking forward to at the start of the season, so I am desperate to get back fit for it.

“It is a massive game for us as well.

“We need to get a win but Burnley are in good form. I am doing everything I can to be fit.

“I’m getting better everyday. We will see what I am like on Sunday – it will be a late decision over whether I play or not because I have only just started running on it really

“It is getting better but I just have to wait and see.”

Keane knows what to expect from Burnley, but, after playing in a side which won one game away from Turf Moor all last season, has been impressed with their unbeaten start on the road: “They are always solid, always difficult to break down.

“They have a lot of good players and had a few good results away from home.

“That took ages for us to achieve last season so they will take confidence from it this time around.

“They can play with a bit of freedom away from home and it is going to be a very tough and very physical game. The lads will have to be up for it but I’m sure they will be ready.

“We cant take anything for granted. We have had a little bit of a slow start to the season ourselves but we need to pick it up.

“What better place to start than in front of our home fans. Hopefully we can play some good football and get the fans behind us.”

Keane awaits a physical test, especially against Chris Wood, who he played with briefly at Leicester City: “We have got to be patient. They are very hard to break down and it is very rare that you score a lot of goals against Burnley. It will be a tight game, but we have got to be patient and physically very strong.

“Every set piece will be coming into the box and we have got to be able to deal with that. Then we have to try and hurt them going forward. They are very well organised so we know that will be difficult.

“They have added to the squad and it looks like Chris Wood is doing well up front and scoring goals.

“I was with him Leicester City when I was on loan so I know what kind of a handful he is. He is great in the air and has a good shot on him so we will need to be wary of him. But they have a lot of other good players who probably don’t get the credit they deserve.”

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